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The Trump administration is attempting to block billions of dollars for contact tracing, additional testing and other coronavirus mitigation efforts that would potentially be included in Congress's next coronavirus relief package, officials involved in the negotiations told The Washington Post. According to the Post's sources, the administration is also trying to block billions in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that GOP senators want to give the agency as it continues to battle COVID-19 on the front lines. The administration also wanted to take out billions of dollars that would go to the Pentagon and State...

Join Freepers throughout the world to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE-PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: All Levels of Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, Health Care Systems and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. —1 John 5:14 Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Please join us in prayer for our nation.

Netflix isn't alone: Agencies and others are balancing demands for money against the fears of stolen data ending up online. Phones are the lifeblood of a talent agency like UTA, but on April 11, its IT department discovered an intruder lurking in the voicemail system and computer network and quickly decided to shut them down, sending agents to conduct business on their iPads. Soon thereafter a demand from a hacker arrived: Pay a ransom or watch the agency's most confidential data get posted online. It turns out UTA was lucky — an outside cybersecurity firm was brought in and, after...

CALGARY — Calgary police are looking for a group of car prowlers who desecrated the ashes of a 19-year-old crash victim. Among several cars hit during a break-in spree on Aug. 2., was a white truck, where the thieves found a green velvet pouch containing the ashes of a 19-year-old woman killed in a crash four years ago, and a green jacket that once belonged to her, police said. The heartless criminals dumped the ashes, and tossed the pouch on the ground and made off with the jacket among their ill-gotten gains. Police say some ashes were recovered, but rain...

Dr. Xavier Dor An octogenarian and veteran pro-life activist in France was fined 10,000 euro ($13,360 US) on Monday for having twice visited a Paris abortion clinic where he met with staff and attempted to counsel abortion-bound women. The conviction is one of the first cases pleaded under a French law that prohibits putting “moral and psychological pressure” designed to obstruct abortion. The hefty fine is 2,000 euro more than had been demanded by the public prosecution. Since 2001, when the offense of “obstruction to abortion” was given a wider definition in law, the maximum fine for violating the statute...

Read aloud this desperate and heartfelt prayer with me; As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that...

QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador's foreign minister says Wilikeaks chief Julian Assange has taken refuge in the South American nation's embassy in London and is seeking political asylum. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino says Ecuador is weighing the request.

A great number of women wonder if the perfect man exists. They have scanned the horizon and often come back thinking they must train a man to make him perfect. That leads them to the question, “Can a man learn to be perfect?” Certainly, a great number of women attempt to find out! In the long run, the realization of perfection depends upon the standard used and whether or not a man adheres to it. Many women believe their man reaches near perfection when they can get him to stop leaving his underwear on the floor and he begins putting...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama hits the road Monday to take aim at the unemployment crisis inflicting misery on millions of Americans and casting a cloud of doubt over his nascent reelection bid. Obama was traveling to the 2012 swing state of North Carolina to chair a meeting of his Jobs Council, a group of top business executives set up to provide ideas about stirring jobs growth with unemployment at 9.1 percent. The president was then due to head to another critical electoral state, Florida, to hold several fundraisers to bolster his campaign coffers as the 2012 presidential...

A civil rights complaint has been filed against a woman in Grand Rapids , Mich., who posted an advertisement at her church last July seeking a Christian roommate. The ad "expresses an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths,” according to the complaint filed by the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan. "It's a violation to make, print or publish a discriminatory statement," Executive Director Nancy Haynes told Fox News. "There are no exemptions to that."

AKHMED ZAKAYEV, the leader of the Chechen government in exile, has had an eventful few days. On Thursday, September 16th, he arrived in Poland for the 3rd World Chechen Congress, held this year in Pułtusk, a town 60 kilometres north of Warsaw. At 8am the following morning, before ever making it to the gathering, Mr Zakayev was apprehended by the police and brought in for questioning in relation to an international arrest warrant issued in 2001 by Interpol at the behest of Russia, where he is wanted on terrorism charges that many outsiders consider trumped up and politically motivated.

Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said Iran has been assisting Venezuela with geophysical survey flights and geochemical analysis of the deposits, and that evaluations "indicate the existence of uranium in western parts of the country and in Santa Elena de Uairen," in southeastern Bolivar state. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said recently that U.S. officials also have "concerns" about a possible transfer of nuclear materials between Iran and Venezuela. But analysts say Iran, which has significant uranium deposits, currently has no need to import uranium, although those deposits may not be enough to sustain its future enrichment goals. Sanz dismissed...

CARACAS, Venezuela – A leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez has decided to seek political asylum abroad rather than face a corruption charge in a trial he says would be stacked against him, an ally said Monday. Opposition leader Manuel Rosales, who went into hiding three weeks ago, decided not to appear in court Monday because the case against him is being used for "political persecution," said Omar Barboza, who heads Rosales' political party. "He won't present himself before a court that's been turned into a political tool," Barboza told reporters. "When there's a state of law in Venezuela, Manuel...

Senate Republicans began an unusual closed-door debate on climate change Wednesday that may portend a shift toward the position of the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). The meeting of the conference launched GOP efforts to find a common position on global warming, an issue on which Republicans have been sharply divided. The issue has taken on a greater urgency within Republican circles now that all the major presidential candidates, including McCain, support mandatory controls of greenhouse gases. This represents a sharp break with the Bush administration, which has fought such proposals vigorously. Wednesday’s meeting did not produce...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Rudy Giuliani has never had a problem getting attention — until now. "We are in good shape," the Republican presidential candidate insists even though he was largely missing in action in Iowa and is struggling in New Hampshire, the two states that are the epicenters of the race. His unconventional road map to the nomination carried this very risk from the start. It called for playing down those states that opened the primary season in favor of spending more time and resources in the delegate-rich ones that vote later this month and on Feb. 5 such as...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California said on Tuesday it would revise its lethal injection procedure to ensure "a dignified end of life" for condemned inmates as it seeks to overcome a U.S. judge's objections to the procedure. In December, Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose ruled the "implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed" and gave the nation's most-populous state a chance to revise how it metes out its ultimate punishment. Lawyers for a condemned California inmate had argued that lethal injection was "cruel and unusual" punishment barred by the U.S. Constitution. With the fate of...

ALBANY, N.Y. - They were young and eager in the 1990s, these midlevel functionaries, hotshot lawyers and one Cabinet secretary in his father's shadow, all inspired by the same boss: President Clinton. Today, Clinton administration alumni are taking their turn in the political spotlight while their former leader cheers from the sidelines. "I am pleased and proud that so many of them have run or are running for office," the former president said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Their dedication and enthusiasm are part of the reason why we were able to accomplish as much good as we...

Peoria man pleads guilty in diploma mill case Latest News more>> Truck pulling horse trailer full of illegals crashes SPOKANE, Wash. An Arizonan has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors for his role in a gigantic diploma mill operation. Richard John Novak pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Spokane, Washington, to conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Novak, who formerly lived in Spokane and now lives in Peoria, could face up to ten years in prison and (m) millions of dollars in fines. Novak is the second person to reach a plea agreement with the Justice Department...

California would consider switching to public financing of political campaigns under a bill approved by the Assembly on Monday. It was the first time assemblymembers have ever passed such a measure. The bill would provide public money to candidates who voluntarily give up outside contributions similar to systems in use in Arizona, Connecticut and Maine. The voluntary system would require candidates to first raise a large number of small donations from within his or her legislative district before qualifying for public financing. The candidate would then have to agree not to spend additional money, including his or her own money....

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Nearly five years ago, the U.S. government exerted high-profile diplomatic pressure on China to secure the return of scholar Gao Zhan, a researcher at American University whom Beijing believed was a spy for Taiwan. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is pushing with equal vigor to have her deported back to China. Gao's case, set for a hearing Monday on the latest twist, became international news in February 2001 when she and her family were arrested by the Chinese on suspicion of espionage. Her husband, Xue Donghua, and the couple's 5-year-old son were released after a month...